Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has tapped Betty Sapp to be the next National Reconnaissance Office director, succeeding Bruce Carlson, who has guided the organization since June 2009. The Pentagon notified congressional defense overseers on April 20 that Panetta, with the concurrence of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, had selected Sapp for the leadership role. She’s been NRO’s principal deputy director since April 2009. NRO develops, acquires, and operates the nation’s classified reconnaissance satellites.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.